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Re: [WriteLog] WriteLog - MK II statup problem

To: <writelog@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [WriteLog] WriteLog - MK II statup problem
From: "Gary AL9A" <al9a@mtaonline.net>
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:55:45 -0800
List-post: <writelog@contesting.com">mailto:writelog@contesting.com>
I've been playing with this situation most of the afternoon and have finally 
concluded the problem lies not with the MK II the Router or WL asserting RTS 
on the CAT line at startup, but is completely a result of the "improvements" 
incorporated in WriteLog V10.77H as to how the sound card works.  I 
understand that Microsoft really screwed the pooch with audio device control 
under Vista and Win7, but this "fix" is a complete disaster from my 
perspective.

I reread the release notes for 10.77 which led me to the Help manual section 
on "How WriteLog sets up sound board mixers".  From the section "On Windows 
Vista and later" I find the following:

"Also note that on these operating systems, you must select the "DVK mic" 
and "rec to PC" on two separate sound boards in order to have both the "echo 
microphone" feature and the "continuous audio record to file" feature. These 
operating systems do not route audio directly from the microphone in mono to 
the same card's stereo output while simultaneously restricting the output to 
only the left or right channel. If you attempt to turn on Echo Microphone 
with these settings on the same sound card, then WriteLog will put up a 
message about the "resource in use"."

My WriteLog Sound Mixer Control is setup as follows:

xmit from PC - Headset Earphone (microHAM CODEC)
DVK mic - Headset Microphone (microHAM CODEC)
rec to PC - Line (microHAM CODEC)
Audio review - Speakers / Headphones (Sigma Tel)

The first three CODECS are from the MK II, the last one is from my Dell PC 
internal soundcard.

After reading the Help file a bit I started WL and went to the 
Tools/Soundboard area and unchecked Echo microphone.  The radio quit 
transmitting.  So far, so good. I left the "continuous audio record to file" 
feature checked and tuned around the band a bit.  After a few minutes I 
listened to the recorded RX audio and it seemed normal.  I then switched 
onto my dummy load and sent a CQ from the F2 memory key.  It keyed the 
transmitter and sent the CQ.  I then went back to the antenna and tried to 
call a station.  PTT keyed the radio, but not the amp!  No idea why.  After 
some playing around I finally got the both the radio and amp to transmit 
when I pressed the foot switch.  I then tried sending a SSB message from 
memory.  Nothing, all the F keys seemed dead and would not send any 
messages.

I then tried playing around with the CODECS in the WL Sound Mixer Level 
Control to use two different sound boards as the instructions say you need 
to do.  Things got really goofed up now.  When I selected the PC sound card 
for DVK mic the radio went into transmit and the mic connected to the MK II 
was constantly on.  I moved the mic to the PC mic input and same result - I 
think. I put the DVK mic selection back on the microHAM CODEC and tried 
changing the rec to PC choice to the PC sound card.  Can't remember the 
exact sequence of events now, but I don't think anything was being recorded. 
The SSB memory keys still wouldn't work, and as a final bonus, when I 
switched to CW those memory keys wouldn't send CW either!  So everything is 
now pretty well hosed up!

Is there anyone who can give me a clue how to make this @#$%&* thing work? 
Everything was working great under WL 10.76 and earlier under Vista without 
too many problems.  From my perspective this update is a complete disaster. 
If I can't get things sorted out soon I will be downloading N1MM and going 
that route.  I hate to say goodbye to WL, but this is absolutely 
unacceptable!

Dismayed customer,
Gary AL9A

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gary AL9A" <al9a@mtaonline.net>
To: <writelog@contesting.com>
Sent: July 23, 2010 5:01 PM
Subject: Re: [WriteLog] WriteLog - MK II statup problem


> Still no luck with the PTT being enabled on startup.
>
> I don't see a configuration problem in Router.  I do not have the CAT port
> defined as the PTT port in Router. COM1 is PTT and COM2 is CAT.  This has
> been unchanged since I acquired the MK II.
>
> I went into the writelog.ini file and in the [RIGS] section added the
> following lines:
>
> COM1_RTS_INIT=0
> COM1_DTR_INIT=0
>
> That didn't work.  Then I tried:
>
> COM2_RTS_INIT=0
> COM2_DTR_INIT=0
>
> That didn't work either.
>
> According to the help manual this is supposed to cause WL to initialize
> these lines off, but when I start WL I still get the error message about 
> the
> sound card being in use and then when WL starts the radio goes into TX and
> cannot stopped.  If I set the mode on the radio to CW I get the error
> message about the sound board, but when I clear it the radio comes up in 
> CW
> ok and I can send CW memory messages normally.
>
> So the problem is how WL starts when in SSB, but if the initialize 
> commands
> I used above don't work what do I do next?  I can't understand what I need
> to do to make this work again for SSB.
>
> 73,
> Gary AL9A
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Joe Subich, W4TV" <lists@subich.com>
> To: <writelog@contesting.com>; "Gary AL9A" <al9a@mtaonline.net>
> Sent: July 23, 2010 7:42 AM
> Subject: Re: [WriteLog] WriteLog - MK II statup problem
>
>
>>
>> You have a configuration mismatch between WriteLog and Router ...
>> Writelog is probably asserting RTS on the CAT port while you have
>> PTT defined on that port in Router.  You will either need to
>> disable PTT on the CAT port in Router or use "RTS/DTR override"
>> in the [RIGS] section of writelog.ini to suppress initialization
>> of DTR/RTS on the radio port.   See [RIGS] in the WriteLog help
>> file.
>>
>> 73,
>>
>>    ... Joe, W4TV
>>
>
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> WriteLog@contesting.com
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> WriteLog on the web:  http://www.writelog.com/ 

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